2009-12-05

Why do some of us break wind with a 'pffft' so quiet it's barely audible , while others seem obliged to step on the proverbial duck? There are number of factors that can make for noisy flatus (the proper name for a fart's gaseous micture) , including the volume and speed of the escaping gas , such as baked beans , cook up flatus that's a lot noisier than that from low-gas foods, such as rice.

Another major contributor is how tight the sphincter muscle in your anus is. Tight sphincters typically produce louder flatus than looser muscles. Vegetarians provide a good example here. The large quantity of indigestible matter (plant fibre , aka roughage) in a vegetarian diet often makes their stools larger tahn those of meat eaters. This results in a looser sphincter and hence farts that are relatively silent - but deadly ( Smelly nuclear !..hahaha)